FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Chesterfield, Mo.) - Trees for Troops Weekend – to be held Friday, Nov. 30 to Sunday, Dec. 2 – offers consumers nationwide an opportunity to say thank you to our troops by buying and donating a fresh, farm-grown Christmas tree to military families around the world.
More than 40 Christmas Tree farms and independent retail lots will be participating in Trees for Troops Weekend, allowing visitors to purchase a tree for the program and load it onto the FedEx trailer. In addition, consumers may write a personal message on a special tree tag and attach it to the tree they are donating. For a list of participating locations in your area, visit www.christmastree.org/locations.pdf or call 636/449-5060.
Trees for Troops is a nationwide program of the Chesterfield-based Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, the charitable branch of the National Christmas Tree Association.
Christmas Tree growers and retailers from 27 states are donating more than 10,000 farm-grown trees for the 2007 program. The Foundation anticipates that consumers will buy and donate another 6,000-10,000 trees during Trees for Troops Weekend. The trees are being delivered to military families at 37 bases in at least five countries.
“Our military and their families have been providing a real service to our country,” says Beth Walterscheidt, president of the National Christmas Tree Association and a Christmas Tree farmer from Elgin, Texas. “And, as Christmas Tree farmers, we want them to be able to experience a traditional Christmas with a Real Tree.”
The Trees for Troops program was first implemented in 2005, and with the help of FedEx Corp., delivered more than 4,300 Christmas Trees to five U.S. military bases, as well as an overseas shipment to the Middle East. In 2006, the program expanded to deliver more than 11,000 trees to 25 U.S. and international bases.
This year’s program kicks off on Nov. 13, with international shipments leaving from Ohio and going to soldiers in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and on November 28, trees will leave Indiana for sailors on ships of the Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Gulf.
The collection and delivery of trees will take place from the end of November through December.
Consumers unable to purchase a Christmas Tree may support the program and the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation by making a cash donation at www.ChristmasSPIRITFoundation.org. More information is also available at www.TreesforTroops.org.
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National Christmas Tree Association
16020 Swingley Ridge Rd
Suite 300
Chesterfield, MO 63017
636/449-5071
Fax: 636/449-5051
www.RealChristmasTrees.org
